Corbett Keeling is a long-standing member of Globalscope Partners, a global alliance of independent M&A advisory firms with 100 offices worldwide. In 2025, Globalscope had its most consequential year to date.

Globalscope member firms collectively completed 206 transactions in 2025, a 3 per cent increase on the previous year. Total enterprise value reached USD 33.4 billion – nearly five times the USD 7.1 billion recorded in 2024. Two landmark transactions, each exceeding USD 10 billion and spanning the Business & Financial Services and Consumer sectors, anchored that figure. But even setting those aside, the underlying deal activity was notably strong: consistent flow across sectors, healthy pipelines in all regions, and member firms executing across the full range of deal sizes.

The network held its annual conference in Santiago in early 2026. The mood reflected the numbers: a community operating with genuine conviction, not just momentum.

What this means in practice for UK businesses

When we run a sale process on behalf of a UK business, we can engage qualified buyers through 100 M&A offices worldwide, via member firms who know those markets and the active acquirers in them – not cold outreach, but warm introductions through advisers with genuine local relationships. Not referrals to firms we have never worked with. Introductions to colleagues we know, whose judgement we trust, and with whom we have a track record of completing deals together.

That is a meaningful distinction. In a competitive sale process, reaching the right international buyers – and reaching them credibly – can materially affect both the outcome and the timeline. Globalscope gives us – and our clients – that reach, without the conflicts of interest that can arise within large, multi-service financial institutions.

As independent advisers, our interests remain aligned with those of the businesses we represent. The network amplifies what we can offer; it does not change who we are.